Burn (13 page)

“Sounds like we’re dating on the job,” I bite down on my lip.

“You know what they say—there’s an exception to every rule.” And with that he leans in and kisses me, makes me forget rules and accidents and boys named Pierce.

***

August 12
^th
,

I took Nevermore with me down to the dunes. I had him sit in a tree and wait until Gage met up with me. He was working so I agreed to meet him, plus I didn’t want him to see
Nev
until the big reveal.

Of course, I brought all kinds of great food and was way too nervous to take one bite in front of him. I sat and watched as he ate, as he swallowed, I swear everything that boy does is perfect. Anyway, I had Nevermore come down and Gage tried to shoo him away. Too freaking funny!

 
I told him it was OK, that it was the guardian my father gave me when I was eight. I took his hand and placed it over Nev. I held them both while I pulled out my knife and cut them. That’s the way I remember my father doing it. I remember how my blood beaded on the blade. Now
Nev
has
Levatio
and
Celestra
blood circulating inside of him. He’s a prince among birds, literally. Doesn’t matter though, he’s impressed onto Gage now. I’ve given
Nev
to him as a gift. He’s Gage’s bird now. I hope Gage knows how much it means for me to give up Nevermore. I love that bird more than my brother, hell, more than my mother.

So things didn’t go so great after that. I tried to lean in and kiss him and he backed away like I had cooties or something. He says he’s real sorry because he’s not trying to lead me on, but he’s saving himself for someone else. Who the fuck saves kisses? And for some girl he hasn’t even met yet! He must think I’m repulsive. I’m so stupid for giving him my heart, my bird, my anything.

I miss Nev. I think he was the only one capable of loving me.

                                                                                     
-Chloe

Rain beats down against my window. I clutch Chloe’s diary against my chest and press my hand up against the cool of the glass, watch as the window lights up in a fog around my fingers.

That was
me
. I was the girl Gage waited for, and I’ll probably be the one to accidentally kill him one day.

A sizzle of lightning electrifies the sky. It slaps against the palm of my hand like a hammer and then produces a violent shatter.

In a moment, the room is lit up with supernatural light and an explosion of flying glass.

Chapter Eighteen

Follow

Second period Algebra Two.

Outside, it’s heaving water like vomit from heaven. It’s as though the clouds have malfunctioned and somehow harnessed the power to suction water from the ocean in large, inconsiderate vats.

The entire class sits around talking and shouting while we wait for Dudley the no-show. Oddly, Marshall strolling in late has increasingly become the norm.

“So,” I lean into Ellis and Gage, “it didn’t go over very well with Tad, that a freak of nature completely destroyed my window.”

Gage looks great save for the stray maroon lines dotting his face, and the fact his arm is in a sling.

“So lightning struck your window after you got into a major collision?” Ellis ticks his head at me. “I’m officially revoking your invite to the party.”

“Yeah, right. Just having me in the vicinity increases the percentile of
Fems
that will show up.” What’s sad about that is it’s actually proven to be factual.

Marshall strides in, slams his briefcase on the desk and claps his hands. The entire room falls silent. Something about Marshall today—he looks irritated, maudlin, not his usual annoyingly chipper self.
  

“Sit quiet for an hour.” He gives a dry smile. “Do whatever the hell you like.” He snatches up his briefcase before bolting out the door.

“What the heck?” Ellis looks dazed.

The room booms with a mix of laughter and voices. I don’t bother saying anything. I just get up and speed down the hall after Marshall, catching up with him as he taps down the stairs.

“Wait, what’s going on?”

“This doesn’t involve you,
Skyla
.” He bursts through the double doors, popping open his umbrella, cutting through the storm at superhuman speeds.

“Oh, something is definitely happening. And if it’s crappy, it usually involves me,” I shout, running in an effort to keep up with him.

“Don’t flatter yourself. There’s plenty of misery in this world that has nothing to do with,
Skyla
Messenger.”

Before I know it, we’re in the teacher’s parking lot, and Marshall is getting into his car. I sit down on the passenger’s side before he has a chance to protest, and we speed away.
   
  

***
  

Marshall is flying—we’re air born—hydroplaning, all of the above. We pass three police cars and not one of them cares to stop us.

 
“You drive like a bat out of hell,” I say, watching the windshield wipers fight a losing battle as I twist and turn with Marshall’s erratic driving.

“Really,
Skyla
? That’s so cliché. Sometimes I wonder why I bother with people.”

“Cliché? Try accurate.” I brace myself against the dash like Gage did yesterday and start pumping the air brakes with my foot.

 
“Try something a little more original. How about, you drive like an atomic collision?” He grits his teeth as we take a sharp turn. “Or you drive like a sound wave that reaches its destination before the first vibration is felt by the human ear, or…” He drives down the dirt path below Devil’s Peak and slows to a crawl as we approach the sheer cliff side. “Hang on.” He backs the car up violently before throwing it into drive again and races towards the granite wall as fast as the pedal with allow.

“No!” I scream covering my head with my arms.
Turn left
is my last paralyzing thought before the sheer slate wall approaches. The car starts vibrating in that strange tuning fork manner that Marshall is capable of emitting. We drive right through the granite and land somewhere dark as night, on a forest floor with a low hung moon that gives off a lavender glow.

Marshall gets out in haste. I unbuckle and follow him.

“Where are we?” Looks like Paragon—feels like Paragon, until I see him lift a latch out of the dirt. A brightly lit stairwell blinds me from beneath the ground. It leads straight down into the earth and looks more than vaguely familiar. “Oh no.” I try to pull him away from it. “I remember this place. It’s that freaky white labyrinth
Ezrina
took me to. She had me strapped to a metal bathtub and was going to suck all of the blood out of me with a big fat needle.”

“You’re with me.” He continues down the stairs.

“I won’t go,” I shout after him. My adrenaline picks up, as a spike of perspiration erupts all over me at once.

“Well, I doubt you’ll be safe up there,” he shouts, disappearing from my line of vision.

Shit!

I run down the stairs, and catch up with Marshall speeding down the hall. I clutch at his waist with both hands. “This is
Ezrina’s
freaking layer,” I say in a panic.

“Is that what they’re calling it these days?” He eases my arms off and picks up my hand. He’s still bulleting down the hall, briefly looking in rooms that have their doors open.

“Here you are,” he says to someone curled over the counter with a bevy of glass bottles lying around.

It’s her! Shit!

Ezrina
straightens and turns around with that dried blood of a thin-lipped smile. She frowns as she observes me from over her glasses.

Marshall lets go of my hand and hops up on the counter next to the clutter.

“I’ve made a mess of things,” he laments. He looks boyish and charming in a humble sort of way.

Damn right
I want to say.
Get me the hell out of here
is next on my list, but my vocal chords don’t seem to be functioning at the moment.

“You want me to chop off her other arm?” She asks casually while rolling a vial of blue solution between the palms of her hands.

“No, she followed me. I can’t shake her—she’s like a pet I’ve come to appreciate.” He winks over at me.

“I want to go home.” The words stutter out of me as I back into a wall.

“Relax, nobody is going to hurt you,
Skyla
.” Marshall steadies himself. “Remember how I told you the world didn’t revolve around you? This is one of those rare moments. I’m the one with the problem.”

I study Marshall’s face,
then
look over at
Ezrina
who doesn’t seemed fazed at all by our strange visit. She continues to pick over samples and play with Petri dishes as though it were standard procedure to have me looking over her shoulder.

“What did you do this time?” She asks pulling a long white tube out of a metal hole in the sink with tongs. Smoke rises from the pit as though it were coming from a frozen environment.
   
 

“I’ve impregnated a human.” The glass drops from her hand onto the floor and shatters.

My hand rises up over my mouth, and I find myself choking for air.

“Michelle’s pregnant?” The words barely escape my lips.

“I’m not here to start rumors,
Skyla
.” He looks annoyed with me for the very first time.

“You’ll have an offspring then.”
Ezrina
secures her hands at the hips.

“I will.” He drops his gaze to the floor.

This is so freaking insane. I step forward towards Marshall for the first time unafraid of
Ezrina
until I notice that the bathtub of death is filled with a body. I jump back, startled to see a leg sticking out from underneath a black sheet of plastic and let out a scream.

“Is this the boy?” Marshall asks.

“There’s
Celestra
blood involved.”
Ezrina
plucks the gloves off her fingers. “It’s confirmed.”

“Well,
Skyla
,” Marshall’s mood brightens. “Looks like you’ve managed to prove your theory correct. All signs of trouble can be directly linked back to you.” He hops down from the counter. “You’re in more trouble than I am. I feel better already.”

“Glad I can help,” I whisper.

“Shall I take her now?”
Ezrina’s
wild red mane pulsates as her voice hits the slightest echo.

“Not yet, my love.” Marshall glides over to me. “She’s mine yet a little while more.”

Chapter Nineteen
 

Vampire for Sale